Walk 6 March 2016 Guajar Faraguit

By -


Once again with low temperatures and a northerly wind forecast we headed off downhill to the warmer valley of Los Guajares. Driving into Gujar Fargúit I could not believe the number of cars that were parked at the side of the road. Every centimeter of spare ground was taken. I thought the groups email for the walk had gone viral and what looked 5.000 people had turned up for the walk. I was having kittens, had they all brought some food for lunch, because I knew my cheese sandwich could not feed all that lot. It was chaos, the road up to Alto was closed, nobody knew what was happening.
The plan was that we would leave one car in Faragúit and drive to Alto and walk back. Fortunately Cees had arrived early, and had managed to park at the far end of the village. He was hoping he would have sufficient time for a coffee before we picked him up, he had no chance, they were queuing 10 deep at the bar.
In the end we broke through the police cordon and set off driving towards Alto. We had not gone far before we were stopped by the police. Thinking that women's prisons are not as bad as the men's we sent Conchi to charm him and find out what was going on. It transpired there were two mountain trail fun runs taking place and we were in the middle of it. He must have taken pity on the poor lass, out with a group of pensionistas, because he allowed us to continue our journey to Alto.
Guajar Alto was deserted, we had the place to ourselves. Finally we were able to set off on our walk. Our route was along a delightful path that climbs, dips, twists and turns through the forest back towards Faraguit. After stopping for a quick break we picked up a path that took us on a circuitous route to the castle. This was a new route to me that was discovered last year by Steve, I was a little worried that it might be indistinct. I need not have worried, we were on the fun run trail and it was marked every 10 metres by coloured tape and, as we were heading for the castle, the cry  “runner”would go up from the back  and we would all jump to side as another marathon person passed us. We stopped at the castle for lunch then headed off to Faraguit. The bar was still busy but somehow they managed to find tables and chairs for all 21 of us.  
The only thing left to do was to recover the cars from Alto. Cees, being the top man he is, had not lost his keys this time and after searching Faragúit looking for his car he drove the drivers there.
Not a long walk but a very enjoyable day out.
We walked 9.4 km, climbed 526 metres.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walk Sunday 2 December 2018 Sierra Manar

By -
Image
This week we went walking in the Sierra Manar, the range of hills behind Dilar.  The walk had been postponed from a few weeks back when it was raining every day, it’s not a walk to do when the ground is wet and muddy. The weather forecast for this Sunday was for sunshine and temperatures of 21 degrees, perfect walking conditions.  The walk starts from the Ermita Nueva and heads up a gentle slope through Olive trees.  After 1 km the path follows the tree line on what at first looks like a level track. It soon becomes apparent that it’s not level at all, but a series of switchbacks with steep ups and downs.  There were only 9 in the group, and we all walked together, chatting and enjoying the warm sunshine. Nobody thought to check that we all turned onto a path into the forest. It was only when we emerged on the other side we noticed our group had dropped to 7, Elsa and Martine were missing.  At first, we weren't worried, we thought they would soon rejoin us. After
Read more

Walk Sunday 4 November 2018 Nerja

By -
Image
This week with snow on the Sierras we decided to go down to Nerja for our walk, at least it would be warm down there. I left home in long trousers, fleece and a jacket. One hour later, at the start of the walk from the caves, I was down to shorts and a T-shirt, don’t worry I had not thrown caution to the wind, they were all in my rucksack along with another 2 coats.  The route was a circular one setting off from the caves and the idea was that we could do an easy and a harder walk, with the easy walkers walking with us for the first half of the route and then making their way back along a 4X4 track, whilst the harder walk went up a hill. Trying to keep track as to who, and how many there were in the group was impossible, even Einstein would have had trouble keeping up with all the comings and goings. For the first 1km, the track follows a 4X4 road to the picnic site, it then drops down into a superb barranco which fortunately, even after all the rain, was still dry. Th
Read more

Walk 18 November 2018 Talara

By -
Image
The walk this Sunday was a local one from Talara. The weather forecast was not promising. It wasn’t a matter of if it rained, it was at what time would it start and how heavy.  We met at the crossroads in Talara and the fallback wet weather option was coffee in Antonio’s where we could reminisce about walking in dry sunny weather. It would only be a short discussion as dry weather was sadly lacking in 2018. It was decided to skip the coffee, it wasn’t raining yet, and we had a walk to do. The route was designed with 12 options to shorten it when the rain started, it also went close by a number of Limper homes where we could seek refuge if necessary.  The walk passed through Chite where we picked up a couple of stragglers and then headed off down to the dam. This is a wonderful path as it winds its way down the hillside in and out of the Agave plants, Fortunately, I had brought my machete with me, as a number needed trimming. I had to be careful this week, my care
Read more